Where have our mule deer gone?

By: Todd Black

Posted on: 02/24/04

Most of us would have to agree 'things just aren't the way they used to be'. I've heard my dad and some of the other older generation who have hunted mule deer for 40 or more years talk about the number of deer and quality of bucks observed in days gone past. While there always seems to be a good buck harvested here and there throughout the west today, the general consensus seems to be the same; our mule deer are in trouble. Some of us have turned to hunting elk and are excited about the increasing elk numbers, while others have been riding out the storm in hopes of the deer someday returning to their numbers of the past. Still others, won't even hunt unless they can draw a coveted tag where the numbers may not be what they once were but at least the quality is still there.

So what really has happened to our mule deer populations? Where have all the mule deer gone? If you asked this question to 20 different wildlife biologist you would most likely get a different answer from each of them. It amazes me as a biologist the response I get from this question; everyone has his or her own opinion and it's hard to get a solid answer. The truth is mule deer and mule deer populations are complex and narrowing their decline down to one specific problem would be ludicrous. However, in talking with my peers, I've come up with several real problems facing our mule deer right now. While I'm sure there are plenty more out there I would like to share a few of them with you. I do this only to help educate and in hopes of getting you involved as sportsman and nature lovers in helping us solve these problems in hopes of bringing mule deer back to suitable populations west wide.

Habitat
With out a doubt, there has been a loss of critical habitat in many areas and quality habitat (both summer and winter) is the number one factor in having a successful mule deer population. If we were to have quality critical habitat everywhere, then most of the other problems would be insignificant and may not contribute to the overall decline in population numbers. However, studies have show you can have the best habitat in the world and still not have a healthy deer population.

When we think of habitat loss most of us think of loss due to development. However, loss of habitat is more than just development, there are many other habitat losses that need to be considered; overgrazing, fire frequency, fire suppression, improper management, or simply a natural successional change in habitat. These are all habitat losses and they can and do contribute to loss in mule deer numbers and create fragmentation within a population. Further, lack of or bad habitat can increase predation, starvation, disease, stress levels, and general fitness of the animals by concentrating them in certain areas. The truth is we have lost some habitat that we will never get back. We've got to work with our local biologist and more importantly federal agencies (Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service) who are under federal mandate to manage the vast majority of mule deer habitat in the west. We need to identify, improve, and protect what we have left and then and only then will mule deer have a fighting chance to return. I've listened and talked with many people who gripe and complain about declining mule deer numbers, but very few of them get involved. We can't just sit back and complain about the loss of habitat any longer and expect things to get better. When was the last time you sat down with your local biologist and asked him or her what you could do to help? We can't expect the habitat to change overnight, we must get involved and help where we can.

Management
Proper management shouldn't even have to be mentioned but the fact is we haven't been managing mule deer the way mother nature dictates they should be managed. I often wounder if we had just done things a little different a few years ago if we might not be where we are today. In years past, we never really had to worry about management of mule deer because they always seemed to be doing fine. Management of mule deer is not easy and I don't envy the task faced by state wildlife biologists. Many have their hands tied and are too involved with the public and politics to really do their job. However, we can't continue to change the natural history of the mule deer by our miss management and hope for the best.

The natural history of mule deer dictates the does (females) will select to breed with the most dominant mature male in the population, this ensures a strong, 'fit', offspring and leads to a healthy population. This dominant buck, should be a 5-7 year old buck. Unfortunately there aren't too many places in the west where this is happening, with the small groups of does and fawns we see during the rut it is almost impossible for one or two mature bucks to breed 30 does let alone 100. There might be a few places where the big boys are doing the majority of the breeding but this is certainly not the norm. What is more typical today is having yearling bucks, or 2.5 year old bucks doing the majority of the breeding.

So why is this so bad? A doe usually won't breed with an immature buck during her first estrus (usually November) cycle. However, if conditions are right, (if she is 'fit') she will come into estrus again the next month (usually December) and breed with a younger/juvenile buck if a mature buck is still absent. From a biological stand point this is probably the worst thing that can happen to mule deer. This leads to fawns being born in July/August instead of May/June, leading to smaller fawns in the winter, leading to higher fawn mortality during the winter months and being less 'fit' next spring. Late birth can also effect the 'fitness' of the fawn leaving it more susceptible to disease, starvation, and predators. The ramifications of this one problem are almost endless.

We just can't continue to manage for quantity of animals, we've got to start managing for quality. This means we can't have our yearling bucks doing most of the breeding, we must manage for an even age distribution of bucks in the population. Its important that hunters realize they can't continue to kill anything that has antlers and expect our mule deer population to increase (I'm not saying we all need to be trophy hunters either). I agree there needs to be a certain number of the yearling bucks taken from the population, but let a few of the bambies grow up and get big so they can breed the does. If we don't and we continue down this path there won't be any mule deer for our children to see except in zoos.

Predators and Elk
Predators and elk are contributing to the mule deer decline. Now some of you might be scoffing right now but hear me out. First, I have to admit as a biologist under normal conditions predator prey relations are important and natural and a predator will not have a negative impact on their prey or cause them to be exterminated. However, when this intricate balance between predator and prey is out of line then predator's can have a negative impact on their primary prey. Right now, in my professional opinion we are way out of balance in many units and I think this is why many states have adopted emergency predator management plans.

The bottom line is we can't have an increasing elk, bear, lion, and coyote population and expect to have an increasing or even stable mule deer population. Elk in my opinion are providing a secondary prey source to predators that were not here (or at least in the numbers they are now) 20 years ago. There is a term called 'the predator pit hypothesis', which states when a primary prey (mule deer) are reduced in numbers by a natural event (winter, drought, loss of habitat), a predator species can continue to increase their numbers and suppress their primary prey if they have a secondary prey (elk) which they can switch too. Over the past decade the number of elk, bears, and lions taken by hunters and state and federal agencies has increased dramatically.

The system is out of balance and it doesn't favor mule deer. The real problem is what do we do now? With the many animal right groups out there we just can't declare an all out war on predators. Further, I'm not so sure the way we kill and harvest predators doesn't lead to their population increase in itself. When managing predators there are certain biological principles, which will help in the management of predators themselves. As an example, the way we presently hunt lions goes directly against their own population regulation. We all want to harvest the biggest mature tom we can find. However, by removing the big toms from the population we allow for two to three juvenile toms to come in and take over a large territory. Large toms kill juvenile toms and sometimes females. We would have much better management of this species if we limited the number of large toms we removed from the population and concentrated more on females and juveniles. Predator management is an important aspect of mule deer management and steps need to be taken to keep predation in line with current prey populations.

Recreation
Human recreation effects on mule deer hasn't really been studied or looked at much but is an issue that I think is effecting our mule deer, perhaps even having a negative impact on them. Have you ever wondered what kind of impact and stress we as hunters, sportsman, and outdoor enthusiasts are putting on our mule deer populations? It all starts in January while observing deer on the winter range and ends in December one year later doing the same thing. It seems like outdoor activities are going on year round in mule deer country. Weather its camping, 4 wheeling and ATV use, snowmobiling, hunting, looking and scouting, hiking, shed hunting, not to mention the so called non-consumptive uses of the outdoors such as photography, surely all of these activities has to have some sort of an impact on the shy reclusive mule deer. Twenty years ago these type of activities may not have been a problem simply because there wasn't that much of it going on.

The demand on our public lands for recreation has increased 10 fold over the past decade. With increased population comes an increased demand on our natural resources. So what is to be done about this? Again, I'm not sure there is an easy answer to this, any changes will most likely end up in court somewhere. No doubt, we all love to go out and look and enjoy nature and we aren't going to let anyone tell us how or when we can do our recreating. However, at some point we've got to regulate ourselves and lessen the impact we are putting on mother nature and mule deer especially during critical rut and winter months.

Funding
A big problem facing mule deer is lack of money and bad politics. Too often in many states mule deer management decisions are being made on the number of licenses sold instead of sound biological principals. We as hunters should be fighting tooth and nail with our local legislatures and public processes to give more general fund monies to our state wildlife agencies. We should demand accountability on how that money is spent and demand our state agencies follow their own management plans they have developed and not sell out because they are afraid of lost revenue. We shouldn't complain about the price of licenses, instead we should complain that the state isn't getting more of our tax dollars to help run our wildlife resources. We shouldn't sit idly by and gripe and moan about present problems. We need to organize ourselves as hunters and those concerned about our natural resources. We should get involved and help support those non-profit groups located in your area who contribute time and money to mule deer management. Only by giving of our time, helping our local game management people, and participating in the public process can we make a difference in mule deer populations.

The truth is mule deer are in trouble throughout the west. Sure there are those areas where they are doing fine and don't face a lot of problems as others do. However, these might be bottleneck populations and all it would take is for a limiting factor to change and in five years they are in trouble as well. Some professionals would argue that the declining populations of mule deer is just part of natural selection and evolution, 'the mule deer are on there way out', its just a matter of time. However, I would like to believe they still have a fighting chance. As a whole, I'm concerned as should each of you be, that if we don't start doing something it maybe too late for mule deer. I've read enough to know and I understand a little about fragmentation, biology, and natural history to know having year after year of declining populations that it will only take another bad winter or two until someday they maybe gone. Hopefully through education, proper management, ethics, time, money, and a little luck we can bring the mule deer back to a number that our habitat can support. Wouldn't it be nice once again not only to hunt and have the opportunity to harvest a mature buck but to see them how they once were?

Todd A. Black is a wildlife biologist and environmental consultant and part owner of Complete Wildlife Management Service (CWMS). He enjoys hunting, photography, birding, and spending time with his family.

Comments

Today poisoning and trapping coyotes is, wrongly I think, a crime. The way I was raised, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, were a "shoot on sight" animal. The interferance of the tree hugging crowd has made that an impossibility and the mule deer herds show the results.

This is a great article, and I think the author makes several valid points.

On the habitat point, about ten years ago, my dad planted several Pheasants Forever habit plots that, in his area, typically consist of three rows of evergreens planted on two sides of a rectanglular area with a plum thicket in the middle. Now that these habitats have grown large enough to provide better cover and food sources, not only are there a few pheasants hanging around, but also there are more rabbits, other bird species, and coyotes. The main thing that sold me on planting these habitats is seeing how much the deer like them. It surprised me how much the mule deer have been utilizing these sites. I am excited to see the deer utilizing these habitats even more in the future as the habitats continue to grow. Now, I just need to convince my father-in-law to plant some habitats on his ground.

On the predator topic, I like to joke that when I am coyote hunting that I am not actually coyote hunting, but protecting deer. There is probably more truth to that than I would like to admit.

Excellent article on mule deer, very informative. I've been hunting them nearly all my life but still learned a lot of new information from this. Our herd started to come back a little in the unit where I hunt but seems to be sliding back again now. It's getting harder and harder for us to find mature bucks to take and the DOW stated they will be reducing tags here again this year.

And I did see my first mountain lion without the use of dogs just a couple of years ago while deer hunting with my daughter. And yes it was sitting on a fresh kill when we spotted it.

Posted on: 11/04/02 deer are the primary food for a couger this story was in 2002 and the population of cats has grown out of controll since this was written ill copy some of its facts about the big cats, from your own sorces.... The tremendous increase in the mountain lion population is being felt in most of the western states and serious human-cougar encounters are becoming more and more common as the population grows and more people are building homes in cougar habitat. There have been several people killed by cougar and numerous non-fatal attacks on people in the past few years and cougars killing livestock and pets is becoming commonplace in many areas. We've just seen the tip of the iceberg and things are going to get much worse before people realize that the big cats need to be managed like any other species and kept within reasonable limits. The Colorado Division of Wildlife won't give an estimate of the cougar population within it's borders but a conservative estimate by several knowledgeable individuals puts the population at approximately three thousand. Hornocker's mountain lion/cougar study in Idaho showed the average cougar killed one mule deer per week or fifty deer per year. That means that Colorado's cat population is taking 150,000 mule deer from a total estimated population of 300,000 deer. Hunters presently harvest between 40,000-50,000 per year. In 1963 Colorado's deer harvest was 147,000 mule deer so the cougar has replaced the hunter as the number one predator on the Colorado mule deer population. A more recent study on cougar in California, where hunting them has been banned entirely for twenty years, showed the west coast cats were killing a deer every 1.9 days and in many areas had virtually decimated the blacktail deer populations. The California bighorn sheep had to be declared an endangered species to give the state a legal right to control the overabundant cat population that brought a healthy bighorn herd to the brink of extinction within a relatively short period of time. When you also have peak populations of hungry coyotes, black bear and bobcats munching mule deer on a regular basis the cause of the mule deer decline across the west should be pretty obvious. It darn sure isn't two-legged predators.

Dick Ray, owner of Lobo Outfitters in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and full time lion hunter, feels that pressure from other predators and scavengers is causing the big cats to kill on a more frequent basis today than they have in the past. Dick and I have shared a number of lion chases together and it used to be, when you found a fresh lion kill it was generally a partially eaten deer carcass covered by raked up pine duff, sticks and leaves. In most cases the satiated cat would stay in the vicinity of the kill until the carcass was consumed, before hunting again. Such isn't the case today.

With the proliferation of the protected scavenger birds such as ravens, crows and magpies, a fresh cougar kill is located by the keen eyed birds within a short time and their raucous racket soon attracts the attention of opportunistic coyotes that key on the boisterous birds to locate carrion or kills. (Every magpie may not have a lion or coyote following it, but you can bet every coyote or lion has a magpie.) The constant harassment by a few determined coyotes quickly drives the frustrated cat from it's fresh kill. Under the onslaught from coyotes and flocks of voracious scavenger birds, within forty eight hours or less the only thing left at the site of the cougar kill is a few scraps of hide and scattered bones, forcing the cat to kill again.

If you've ever dreamed of going on a cougar hunt, the time has never been better and you can rest assured that by removing a mature cougar from the population you'll be doing your part to help manage and restore the western deer populations I think this says it all and remember the elk population is riseing meaning theres plenty of resorces for them to strive. they are a risk for cougers to attack, and stay heathy without risk of engery to themselfs. all the facts point to the onsluat of the deer population from manly the big cats and not other stress or loss of range, infact they stay near the houseing development here to stay away from the lions. and in a sence draw them to humans and pets ect. its a simple fact that the predators are at record numbers because there numbers are out of control due to the new law, no dog hunting, the only way to have a chance of hunting the big cats, so I lmao when I read all your so called reason for the decline in mulies. its as easy as saying when there where no cougers there was lots of deer, and now we have lots of cougers and they're eating all the deer up. and thats the bottom line and no other management is needed but to address this problem.

your exactly right my friend...but there hands are tied, due to the voteing public of the bigger cities that never go into the woods, they should be sent into the woods and spend some time with the friendly lions for a week or so, then they would change there minds about there votes after seening one I bet. lol

Hunting Cartoons

Over the years I have seen several elk and deer hides left in the woods by hunters and I have to wonder why they do this? I fully understand and agree about getting the hide off the animal as soon as possible to cool the meat, but why not pack out the hide with you and use it? As far as I know there are no state laws that require you to take the hide home, but to me why waste such a beautiful part of the animal? Some might think they have no use for the hide or it costs too much to tan....